Process of treating butter cream



Patented Sept. 27, 1927.

UNITEDv STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEOFFREY ARTHUR GRAY, OF CINCINNATI, OElEO, AND MORTON IBERNHARD NEW BURGER, J5 COVWGTON, KENTUCKY.

TROGESS 0F TREATING BUTTER CREAM.

Ho Drawing.

Our invention relates to the method of treating cream to be used in the manufacture of butter, by the addition of a relatively innocuous preservative effective for a predetermined period, and which can be afterwardsremoved at a later and predetermined stage in the butter making operation.

We have found that several very important and valuable results can be secured through the application of our discovery, to commercialized butter making and the handling of butter cream preparatory to shipment to the creamery, which results are not readily apparent on the face of the 1g broad proposition of using a suitable pre servative, and which main objectives and results may be briefly summarized as follows:

1. By our process all losses due to fermentation and consequent waste of butter cream from boilin over in shipping cans are definitely elimlnated.

2. Heretofore it has been customary to make provision for this condition by underaa filling the shipping cans, at increased cost of transportatlon per wei ht, and with no definite assurance of avoi ing loss through fermentation.

3. By the employment of our method, the shipping vessels can be uniformly filled to approximate capacity, the treatment given, and the butter cream held during shipment and until the butter making, in the initial condition, without danger either of loss or impairment in quality or flavor.

v 4. It further results that a given batch of butter cream so shipped and treated, remains of absolutely uniform grade and flavor, which will yield a uniform butter roduct in flavor and value, and one which does not require the I ading necessary in the use of untreated utter cream, where, at the time of usage, no two shipment cans of cream are in the same condition as to flavor, bacteria activity, species of animal organisms, or stage of fermentation.

5. By butter cream it is understood that we refer to a cream which, whether by nature or culture, is either in initial and a application file-r1 July 1.6, H23. serial No. 651,8?9.

predetermined stage of fermentation prior to, or at the time of shipment, or which is sweet at the time of treatment and later brought tation.

6. The employment of our treatment also enables the provision of uniform, definite, predetermined flavor of cream or butter; in short, the creamery is enabled to manufacture on the basis of known instead of unknown, and of constant instead of variant factors, in uantity production.

In practice, our invention is preferably employed as follows 2' The firoducer or shipper of the butter cream lsthe shipping vessels to uniform and approxmuateshqoment capacity.

he preservative treatment may be applied to the butter cream in the container from which the shipment cans are filled, or 1t maybe applied to the butter cream directly 1n the shipping cans before sealing.

The butter cream is suitably impregnated wlth a preservative having the characteristics of sulphurous "acid. It is desirable to keep the preservative quantitatively as low as possible, and in practice we have found that the proportions desirable are:

(a) The equivalent of three one-hum dpedths per cent of sulphur dioxide to a glven weight of cream.

Preferably the method of application of the preservative to the butter cream is as follows:

(b) The required amount of a salt of sulphurous acid isdissolved in a small amount of water and thoroughly mixed with the cream.

After the treatment, the'cans, having been uniformly filled to approximate shipping capacity, are sealed and shipped to the oreamery. Upon examination at destination, it will be found that the cream has been held in transit and during the storage period, so that no losses of butter fat have occurred from foaming over, by as forming organisms, and it will be furt or found that the S0 preservative is quantitatively contained more in the liquid carrying the into the requisite state of fermenbutter fats than in the butter fats per so, although some small percenta as will be found with the butter fats. T is is of no commercial consequence, since it is a portion of our discovery and treatment to follow up at the creamery with a second step of oxidation or evaporation, which will conve'rt the S0 into innocuous and inert nonpreservative salts, or abstract it by evaporation or washing. a

As a step preparatory to or during the butter making operations, we remove the residual SO of butter cream b oxidatlon or evaporation, convert the sulp urous acid to sul hates, so that approximately all apprecia 1e traces of the preservative disappear before the ultimate butter stage 18 reached in the manufacture.

It is not necessary, however, to oxidize by chemicalization, as we have discovered that satisfactory results may be obtained in the reservative elimination as a resultant of asteurizing, aerating, or in the churnlng process, which, while conventional, may be readily controlled, so that thorou h oxidation of the S0 is physically e ected, or through abstraction, the elimination is substantially complete.

These treatments, whether by chemicalization, or b hysical manipulation, oxidize the residua 0 into innocuous sulphates and water existing in very small proportions in the butter.

In the case of S0 and other preservatives which may be converted into other nonpreservative compounds by oxidation, tl 11s may be accomplished by the use of ox1d1z ing reagents such as H 0 hydrogen peroxide. With sulphurous salts this rea ent forms sulphates and water, both of w ich are harmless and non reservative in the reportions in which 1; ey are formed. ul-

hates are commonly found in dairy salt and in table salts. In actual practice the addition of approximately the theoretical amount of H 0 to cream treated with sodium sulphite reduced the amount of SO from 0.036% in the original cream to 0.004% and the butter made from this cream showed no SO whatever within the limits of accuracy of the method used. In the laboratory where an excess of peroxide was used no SO could be found in the cream.

SO, can be oxidized also by the oxygen of the air during the rocesses of Pasteurization and aeration. similar and more effective oxidation takes lace in the churn where the action of the c urn exposes the cream more thoroughly to the air. This could be made more effective by filling the churn with oxygen instead of air.

We have found that SO may be oxidized by electrolysis. Cream contaming 0.034% S0, was sub'ected to the action of alternating current ong enough to raise the temperature from room temperature to 183 F. The cream then contained only 0.024% S0,, 9. loss of over 29%. A similar test was made with direct current of low voltage in which the temperature rise was very slight. In one hour the amount of SO was reduced to 0.023%, a loss of over 32%. By the use of suitable electrodes and stirrin or mixin devices the action could be reat y hastened and made more effective. hese tests were carried out in beakers with no stirrer and with very small electrodes.

We have also found that butter made from cream containin SO will always contain more or less S However, by properly washing the butter, using suflicient water and changes of water, the amount remainin in the butter can be reduced to very sma proportions, to less than ten parts in the million or even better. This can be accomplished in the commercial churn which is fitted with workers which knead the butter and work it together with the excess of water which is introduced into the churn. Here the S0 is washed out by difiusing into the wash water, or by the wash water displacing the liquid containing the SO, which is originally in the butter.

This discovery is not in any sense academic, but is of the greatest commercial importance.

The control of, and standardization of quality and grade of cream and butter resultant from our treatment, provides a new and important advantage to the butter manufacture, and compnses an element of economy, as well as quality improvement, the benefits of which extend to the consumer as well as the manufacturer, producer an shipper of the butter cream.

An equally important advantage is the salvage in shipments, and the decreased cost of transportation.

A long study of the problem, observation, and calculation, based on obtainable data, shows that when this treatment is not employed, the butter fat loss runs between of 1% and 1%, due to the foaming and 11S1I1 of the fermented cream in the cans, whic of course is greater in the warm months.

The partial filling of cans, which is a necessary practice according to the old methods, is a constant item of increased transportation cost, and to this economic waste must be added the employment of a greater number of cans, necessary to the partial filling system in vogue, and we also effect a great saving in the loss and renewal of cans.

While we have disclosed and described this invention as applied to butter cream, the process can be applied to the milk industry.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. The process of making butter, com rising the steps of adding sulphur dioxi e the cream prior to shipment, oxidizing the fermentation, oxidizing the sulphur dioxide sulphur dioxide by means of hydrogen perafter shipment to permit fermentation, and oxide after shipment, fermenting the cream, churning the cream into butter. 10 and churning the cream into butter. In witness whereof, we hereunto subscribe 5 2. The process of making butter, comour names.

prising the steps of adding sulphur dioxide GEOFFREY ARTHUR GRAY- to the cream prior to shlpment to inhibit MORTON BERNHARD R ER- 

